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Goa'uld
Species Traits All Gou'ald have access to the memories of those who they are descended from and their mindset is largely effected by those and the attitudes of the one who spawns them. As there are only a few Queens and they are the ones who spawn new Gou'ald there are distinct 'bloodlines'. A parasitic race who take humans as hosts and pose as Gods to keep their populations under control. They rule large areas of the galaxy. They are megalomaniacs and evil. Any deal with them will only last as long an it suits them and even between themselves treachery is common. The Tok'ra are of the same race but have a completely different mindset. Goa'uld, can inhabit any sentient form but prefer to inhabit humans over other races as there seems to be a comparability. More exact details can be found in the entry on Symbiote as this applies to both Tok'ra and the Goa'uld. Population centres The Goa'uld Empire encompasses hundreds, if not thousands of worlds, though the actual number of worlds occupied by the Goa'uld as their 'Throne' worlds is minimal, the number of worlds populated by slave populations utterly subservient to the Goa'uld Empire is massive, they rely on billions of primative human cultures to support their existence along with their slave-warrior species the Jaffa. Government Gou’ald are psychotic, egotistical, megalomaniacs and that’s just their good qualities. They are capable of inhuman atrocities and indeed revel in such things. I can not begin to express the depths to which they will sink, often purely for enjoyment. Their continual use of sarcophagus technology to extend their lifespan makes their mindset even more unstable and prone to psychosis. The best description of the system of Governance of the Empire is to refer to it as a Warlord State though the territorial boundaries of the Empire are defined by the reach of the Goa'uld species, and the Goa'uld themselves consider all their territories as the property of the Goa'uld when it comes to disputes with the Goa'uld, each Goa'uld maintains their own individual power base, some by bowing to others, some by maintaining territory and power through a complex series of alliances, those that amass power to become the 'leaders' of their species adopt the title of 'System Lord but they are no more than a petty warlord and their territorial responsibilities shift based upon their ability to maintain the integrity of their territory in competition with other Goa'uld, as well as other powers in the Galaxy. The Goa'uld Empire therefor is a lie for while it is simultaneously the best designation for the territorial range of the Goa'uld species, its lack of true centralized government mean it is little more then a series of warlord-controlled territories united only by the shared Goa'uld culture. Th Gou'ald are constantly at war with each other but over time power blocks have built up, even among these treachery is common place if an individual Gou'ald feels it is to their advantage.The emergence of the concept of a 'Goa'uld Empire' is the result of the First Dynasty of the Goa'uld founded by the Goa'uld Apep who established a system of mediation between the most powerful Goa'uld in order to prevent their culture self-destructing as a result of the near constant conflict the shared megalomania of the Goa'uld species inevitably breeds. Apep established the High Council of the System Lords, a system and series of protocols by which the System Lords can agree to gather to discuss a united response to external and internal threats, or to allow the ascendancy of other Goa'uld to join their ranks. Through this protocol as well as many cultural and social conventions accepted by the Goa'uld as part of the ritual of their existence the Goa'uld have avoided mutually created destruction by an agreement on one core fact; only the Goa'uld as '''Gods' have the right to rule the Galaxy''. This core social attitude is what unites them against forces like the Alliance who threaten their dominance of the Galaxy, the Goa'uld can agree on one thing, and that is their racial superiority to other races. Though the Empire's power structure is often in flux, and often defined by a lack of a single 'true' leader - there are moments where a single System Lord rises to a position of such power that they are able to effectively treat the other System Lords as their inferiors. Often styled as a 'Supreme System Lord', though they may take other titles, these individuals are so rare that only four Goa'uld in known history have ever accumulated such power, Apep, Ra, Anubis and Ba'al. The Goa'uld system of Governance is reliant heavily on subjugated populations being capable of obedient self-governance, though there are certainly a number of Goa'uld who have demonstrated an interest in directly ruling worlds as a 'living god' to the people there, and certainly each System Lord tends to their own 'Throne' world, most populations in the Goa'uld Empire do not see a Goa'uld for hundreds of years at a time, paying tithes through their planetary Stargate's. Where a planet fails to pay 'tribute' to their God the Goa'uld will notice this, and send Jaffa warriors to punish the population for their failure. Fear has long been the chosen method for the Goa'uld to keep order in the Empire, fear and superstition. The majority of the populations under Goa'uld are kept in deliberately primitive conditions by their Masters and are poorly educated, the Goa'uld encourage their slave-subjects to view them as Gods and maintain that illusion through superior technology, seemingly endless life, and where that fails crushing worlds under the brutal heel of of Jaffa warriors. The Goa'uld have built their Empire on the pageantry of the false godhood and in their narcissistic megalomaniacal fashion revel in excessive displays of power. This is taken to excess, what the Goa'uld cannot conquer or control they destroy, as they have attempted to do so to Earth on several occasions since the Tau'ri became a significant threat to their existence and power. Until recently, with the actions of the SEF and other powers in the Galaxy aiding their success, Rebellions have been brutally suppressed making them relatively rare within the Empire Beliefs The Goa'uld have no Gods for the Goa'uld are, in their own reasoning, Gods. They are the center of belief systems co-opted by them, enshrined as very literal living Gods of their slave populations. They pray to no one, and give no devotion to any 'higher beings' even the Ascended and other 'Higher Beings' are things to be challenged and conquered through whatever means available to the Goa'uld rather than being things to be respected. To this end the Goa'uld as a culture have no beliefs, or religion, as that would undermine their own 'godhood' in the eyes of themselves and others. The Goa'uld have a culture of racial superiority, they do not consider their diminished physical nature without a host to be a reason to respect their hosts, their ability to possess and control most known species in the Galaxy makes them view themselves as the alpha predators of the Galaxy. Social Classes The Goa'uld power structure was laid down in the First Dynasty by the Goa'uld Apep to attempt to slow the self-destructive attitudes of the Goa'uld towards each-other in the face of threats to their Empire. Though it is a power structure defined by back-stabbing it ensures Goa'uld are more cautious about assassinating their superiors as they are more likely to be killed and the territory they wished to claim swallowed up by their superior's rivals as they enforce their dominance in the hierarchy, lucky usurpers will advance, but they have to be well prepared. Supreme System Lord '- The de-facto 'Emperor' of the Goa'uld Empire, though the Goa'uld shy away from that term since its relation to the much hated Anubis - the holder simply stands as first amongst equals the single most powerful Goa'uld in the Empire with enough of a power base to keep it vaguely united. This position in not always in existence, it takes an incredibly powerful Goa'uld to amass the power and hold onto it long enough to found a Dynasty in the history of the Goa'uld only a few individuals have ever come close, with Ba'al being the latest of them. '''System Lord '- There are rarely more than a handful of Goa'uld claiming the title of System Lord at any one time, each is the commander of a faction of Goa'uld through alliances with others, alongside fleets of ships and legions of Jaffa. Membership of the ranks of the System Lords is decided by the '''High Council of the System Lords who enforce these social structures. By and large the majority of known System Lords thousands of years old, each one bearing the identity of a God of one of the Major Pantheons of Ancient Earth, the only Pantheons they are known not to have stolen their identities from is the Norse pantheon. It is believed in some circumstances the names of well-known Gods have been taken by usurper Goa'uld who have maintained those religious identities like titles seeing value in the long-entrenched mythology surrounding the Gods in question in slave populations. The territory of a System Lord represents a 'province' of the Goa'uld Empire, though the Empire is a Warlord State the Goa'uld do understand the concepts of governance and so administer to their territories via the use of Underlord which serve as Planetary and Star System Governors on behalf of their System Lord Masters. Underlord '''- Is the title and rank given to Goa'uld who have earned the trust of a System Lord and earned power through their loyal service (as well as likely their own political schemes) where there are only a handful of System Lords there are hundreds of Underlords working beneath them. Underlords serve many duties from being the General's of a Goa'uld's armies, the Governor of their worlds, or even things as unique as lead scientists and technicians, they have earned their titles through making themselves important to their Masters. Much like the '''System Lords the eldest of the Underlords have names that are recognizable from the lore of ancient mythology on Earth - many are minor gods, or members of the same pantheon as their Masters, but there are a few Goa'uld who have more recently ascended to the rank since the Goa'uld ruled Earth who bear new names and titles not recognizable as ones from Earth. The Goa'uld population is estimated to be in the high Thousands, possibly the low Hundred Thousands. As such, there is a large proportion of the Goa'uld population who are not even worthy of the rank of Underlord. These Goa'uld scheme and fight to try and achieve some level of recognition in the eyes of their social superiors to gain rank. There are however Goa'uld who exist outside of the social structures and retain ranks within the Empire that mark them as important but in a different fashion to their peers. Goa'uld Queens serve a vital biological role to the Goa'uld as they are the only members of the species capable of reproduction, much like Queens in insectoid species. Because of their vital importance for the continuation of the Goa'uld species, Queens are respected and protected by their fellow Goa'uld. Many, have historically held the rank of System Lord, but this is not always the case with others taking the position of Consort to a System Lord becoming the foremost of their underlings by lieu of their importance to their Lord. It is a common mistake to view a Goa'uld occupying a female host to be a 'Queen', Goa'uld are asexual and when they adopt the gender identity of their host it is a matter of choice, rather than indicative of the gender of the symbiote. Most Goa'uld with female hosts are simply 'normal' Goa'uld, the host is not an indicator at all, a Queen can occupy a male host if they so wish. It is suspected to only be a few dozen Queens remaining, and as such, they are often protected heavily to ensure the continuation of the Goa'uld species. Ashrak exist in a special place within Goa'uld society. They are the highest class of assassin within Goa'uld society, an elite order created by the Goa'uld Selket and available for hire by Goa'uld with the wealth and clout to secure their services. They are respected and feared by Goa'uld and their enemies alike, the SEF has had numerous encounters with these assassins some of which teams from the unit have barely survived. Equipped with deadly weaponry, and occasionally cloaking devices, the Ashrak are some of the most dangerous Goa'uld encountered in the wider galaxy and their reputation is well-deserved. Kull sometimes referred to as 'Orak' (Unspeakable) or Goa'uld Super Soldiers by the SEF are a force of Goa'uld Symbiotes that possess artificially created hosts. Peerless warriors with superhuman bodies and advanced technology and armor manufactured by the Goa'uld Anubis in 2003. The method of creating Kull was lost to the Goa'uld following the death of Anubis, until the Goa'uld Phobos and Deimos working under Ba'al managed to replicate a version of the process of their creation. These (thankfully inferior) warriors are part of Ba'al's forces and represent part of why he has been able to keep the remaining Goa'uld in line. Writing and Language The written form of the Goa'uld language closely resembles Egyptian hieroglyphs mixed with cuneiform text, it is a complex language that has evolved over thousands of years, so while it closely resembles Egyptian it is very far removed as of the modern period having seeded the roots of Ancient Egyptian and then moved on since the Goa'uld abandoned Earth. Spoken, Goa'uld is the common language of the Empire, a harsh sounding language shaped by the strange resonance of the 'Symbiote Voice' produced by a Goa'uld speaking through their hosts vocal cords. While their own language is the lingua franca and trade tongue of the Galaxy, the majority of Goa'uld speak a range of languages having learned them from multiple hosts over their long lifespans. With the majority of worlds under their rule populated by human cultures stolen from the Ancient World, it is not uncommon to find a Goa'uld who speaks a few languages such as Ancient Greek, Latin, Aztec and Persian among many others, though most Goa'uld view such tongues as the 'Languages of the Slaves' as noted in the reaction of Ra to Ancient Egyptian by Dr Daniel Jackson during Earth's initial exploration of the planet Abydos in 1996. Art/Architecture For all the Goa'uld's cultural failings it cannot be said they are not artists, many of the Great Wonders of the Ancient World on Earth were engineered or influenced by the Goa'uld, no more true is this then the Great Pyramids of Egypt and South America which, while serving as landing platforms for Goa'uld vessels, also served as demonstrations to the people of those regions of the Goa'uld's might. The Goa'uld build large, impressive structures befitting of their 'Godhood', often constructed with slave labor despite their technological capabilities. As a species Goa'uld are quite materialistic and place a great deal of value in precious metals and jewels as well as fine clothing, they like fashion, and they love dressing the part of Gods, each one noted for its theatrical flair when it comes to such things. Huge amounts of Gold are commonly used to gild the interiors of Goa'uld ships, something that has provided a useful bounty in the past when dealing with forces outside of Earth once Goa'uld vessels are destroyed and captured. Warfare Considerable. Fractious, territorial and predatory by nature all Goa'uld System Lords maintain large forces both in terms of ground troops and space going assets. Fleets of star ships are geared towards the transportation of troops and their support through orbital bombardment. Reports on the tactics of space combat are restricted, but suggest a limited face to face style reminiscent of science fiction television. This failure to exploit the tactical options of space based engagement typifies a general lack of sophistication prevalent throughout all of Goa'uld military strategy, which is dominated by direct shows of force in an attempt to terrorise and intimidate the opponent. When this tactic fails a battle of attrition ensues, where technology and the Goa'uld willingness to expend the lives of their Jaffa troops are brought into play. On the ground Jaffa troops operate using primarily horde tactics, relying on numbers and their unshakeable faith in their “god” to carry the day. Heavy support is primarily air based, being rapidly and readily deployed. Though general strategy follows this model, specific tactics on the ground are considerably more fluid and individual ground commanders may act with a significantly freer hand, and indeed within the scope of SEF operations Jaffa have been seen to exhibit advanced guerrilla, and ambush tactics. It must however be stated that the considerable limitations of Jaffa weaponry mean that despite their technological lead, earth developed projectile based weapons have displayed considerable superiority in both tactical flexibility and killing power, that have been shown to significantly mitigate the Jaffa's tenacity and numerical superiority. However, please see Goa'uld Tactics for more up to date assessment of their current tactics. The Goa'uld use military might with great readiness, often before or in preference to any other option, as befits their particular psychology. Their approach in all spheres of combat is best summed up as “Aggressive” and it is upon this fact that they can be relied. Though such predictability can be used against them, when combined with numbers and ample space based assets it necessitates that they be treated with extreme caution. Personalities Goa'uld are united by a series of personality traits, they are selfish, megalomaniacal, cruel, and altogether the only species in the known galaxy, with the exception of the Tok'ra subsect, that truly can be described as being purely and moralistically evil. Everything they do is for their own betterment, they care little for each-other, constantly scheming and backstabbing, it is not an uncommon practice for them to turn the devouring of their own kind into a culinary ritual. The Goa'uld are, without exception, like this because they are imprinted with the personality traits of the Queen that spawned them, with the Queen able to choose to imprint what she wishes on her spawn through the unique genetic memory of the species. Though some have claimed to have 'redeemed' a Goa'uld in the past, every occasion has proven them wrong, as the Goa'uld eventually show their true colors. Appearance The Goa'uld dress to present themselves as gods, ornate clothes and armor bedeck their host forms, it is a Goa'uld in hard times, or an Ashrak trying to lure you into a sense of false security if a Goa'uld is ever dressed in a 'scruffy' fashion. ---- Technology Gou'ald rarely create anything new themselves but they take any technology they find and turn it to their own advantage. Many of the items they use are based on Ancient technology and almost all the main ones are powered by naquadah. This means they prize any planet where it can be mined. *'Spacefaring: ' Most medium-sized Goa'uld craft and above are capable of spaceflight and are equipped with hyperdrives, smaller Goa'uld craft such as 'Deathgliders' lack such capacities, capable of spaceflight but operating from a Ha'tak or another carrier with limited life support to sustain their pilots should they be left behind by their mother-ship. *'Colonisers:' The Goa'uld are the ultimate colonial power in the Milky Way Galaxy, their endless quests for power have seen many worlds fall under their way and it has only been in the last two decades of Galactic history their their hegemony has been challenged and their territorial ambitions blunted and their worlds lost to rebellion and war. *'Explorers:' The Goa'uld are explorers, their fleets constantly roam the Galaxy in search of worlds with resources they wish to plunder, or technology they wish to co-opt for their own gains. Technology comparison Because the Goa'uld hoard technological achievements and scientific knowledge and deny it to their peers it is hard to do a 'straight' technological comparison with technology found on Earth because it varies from Goa'uld to Goa'uld, so any comparison beneath should always be taken with a pinch of salt, as individual Goa'uld scientists may far outstrip their peers technologically. *'Construction Technology:' The Goa'uld have the technologies to make large-scale construction a far more comfortable process, but prefer either out of a lack of ability to convert technology or simply a preference for using slavery as a method of control, prefer to do construction with mass slave labour instead of more advanced methodologies. *'Manufacturing Technology:' Though the Goa'uld have been seen to possess factory-like production lines, most continue to use manual labour in manufacturing roles rather than sensible automation, though this means they often have access to highly skilled laborers it does make them vulnerable to sabotage. *'Biological Technology:' Widely, the Goa'uld are not notable for their bio-tech, however certain Goa'uld such as Nirrti, Anubis as well as Phobos and Deimos have demonstrated personal understanding of biological sciences that far surpass some of the most advanced races in the Alliance. *'Communication Technology:' The Goa'uld possess subspace communications, they prefer to communicate visually using orb-like long range visual communication devices 'to interact as well as voc'ume projectors. *'Energy Technology: Much of the adopted Naquada technologies used by the SEF are of Goa'uld Origin (or were at least stolen by the Goa'uld in the distant past, though SEF technology has been refined and made safe (radiation poisoning is not a concern for the Goa'uld or their Jaffa thanks to the native healing power of the Symbiote) it is not far removed from the technologies used by the Goa'uld. ---- History Much of Goa'uld history is important and interwoven with our own and so can be found in the Timeline The Goa'uld evolved as a unique race of parasitic predators on the planet P3X-888 where their 'prey' was the local sentient Unas population who they parasitically occupied and forced to act as hosts, it is not known exactly when the Goa'uld gained sentience but it is speculated given their ability to gain the memories of their hosts, that they gained this neurological advancement directly as a result of blending with the sentient Unas. Somewhat poetic and prophetic given the Goa'uld's parasitic relationship with the Galaxy. The Goa'uld discovered P3X-888's Stargate and at some stage discovered the ability to activate it and travel to other worlds, likely though trial and error, however this was the beginning of their conquest of the known Galaxy as the parasitic species rapidly spread via the Stargate network supplementing their Unas host forms with ones taken from other, now extinct largely, species. The''' First Dynasty''' of the Goa'uld lasted until 17,400 B.C. under Apep who established the power structures of the Goa'uld we see today. Though agressive and hostile these early Goa'uld lacked the mental flaws of the modern Goa'uld, those developed as a result of the Goa'uld Telchak's creation of the Sarcophagus which began to pollute their blood with Naquada and all it's associated mental health effects. Apep ruled until the Goa'uld Anubis murdered it and attempted to become 'Emperor' of the Goa'uld. Anubis' claim was contested by that of the Goa'uld Underlords beneath Apep, including the Underlord Ra who would eventually come to power after a period of bloody civil war with the eventual rise of the Ra' '''to the title of Supreme System Lord. Anubis was exiled from Goa'uld space, and the '''Second Dynasty '''of the Goa'uld was formed under Ra - at this stage, the Goa'uld population was increasing faster then the slow-breeding Unas could reach the maturity desired for blending, driving the expansion of the Goa'uld race across the galaxy in a search for new hosts. This brought them into conflict with the Asgard, who opposed the species. The Asgard proved capable of resisting the power of the Goa'uld, with Ra taking the Asgard Famrir as a host only to discover the Asgard biology rejecting its blending. Fleeing a battle with the Asgard in 9,177 BC, Ra found a lush and fertile planet with a local population that served as near-ideal hosts this was Earth and the Goa'uld soon began to take Human hosts as their preferred forms, finding the humans quick-breeding and more viable than Unas for the duration of Goa'uld rule over Earth the Goa'uld took entire populations of humans and seeded them on worlds around the galaxy to ensure access to their new host-species wherever they desired, seeding the galaxy with its large human population that are so common in the modern era across the Galaxy. However after over six thousand of years of Goa'uld rule in 2995 BC, the human population of Earth realizing that their 'Gods' were not what they said they were rose up against the Goa'uld and overthrew the Jaffa garrison on Earth, burying the Giza Stargate and, with Ra smarting from the humiliation of being defeated by a human population, forgotten by the Goa'uld. However Ra was not the only Goa'uld with access to Earth and many Goa'uld survived later into the history of the world. Goa'uld rule in the British Isles lasting until around 1600-1400BC with many of the Prehistoric British Kings recorded in ancient British prose such as the ''Pedair Cainc Y Mabinogi ''believed to have been influenced by Goa'uld symbiote rule continuing in the British Isles. The 'Goa'uld King' Math ap Mathonwy was the last Goa'uld to rule the British Isles when the local population rose up against him, and drove him through the Stargate situated at Stonehenge and buried the Gate beneath that structure. It is believed, as a result of encounters with a Goa'uld called Charlemagne who ruled as Emperor of the Romans, King of the Lombards and King of the Franks until his 'death' in 814 AD that the Goa'uld may have sporadically visited the Earth in the years following the rebellion, or that may simply be more evidence that several Goa'uld, as evidenced in the cases of Setesh and Hathor who both remained on Earth well into the late 20th/early 21st century, remained on Earth for millennia after Goa'uld rule ended, effectively trapped there until they either found a means of escape, or died. In the wider galaxy the Second Dynasty Continued under Ra. Fearful of repeats of the rebellion on Earth, the Goa'uld began a practice of deliberately limiting the education of their slaves, ensuring that technological development of most human populations across the galaxy (bar those who had escaped or been forgotten) ground to a halt leaving the majority in a similar state of technological development to the period of history they were transplanted from. The most serious threat to Goa'uld rule occured in 1,002BC when the Goa'uld Queen Egeria in defiance of her consort Ra spawned an entire generation of symbiots free of the madness and tethers of the Goa'uld this generation, the Tok'ra soon became a persistent thorn in the side of Ra despite him capturing and imprisoning their Queen. The '''Second Dynasty '''lasted thousands of years until 1996 when the SGC eliminated him as a result of the Abydos mission that represented the beginning of the Tau'ri's exploration of the Milky Way. Following Ra's death in 1996, the Goa'uld entered a warring period of interchanging supremacy, Major events, such as the mass rebellion of several Jaffa nations, who would become becom the Free Jaffa have eroded the Goa'uld in this period and the return of Anubis in the early 2000s seemed to herald the rise of a new Goa'uld Dynasty. However, thanks to an alliance with the Tau'ri it was the System Lord Ba'al who seized power in the galaxy capitalizing on his aid in defeating Anubis to capture much of the former System Lord's holdings as the troves of vast technological knowledge acquired by Anubis in exile. Recent History With the rise of the current '''Supreme System Lord' Ba'al after the events of the Battle of Antartica the Goa'uld have marked 2004 as the beginning of a new epoch for their species, declaring this era to be the Third Dynasty. It has been a period marked by a decline in the Empire, with the rise of the Tau'ri and the Alliance the Empire has seen its ambitions curtailed and more Goa'uld System Lords have died in recent years then have done over the past thousand years. The Goa'uld are in a time of flux and change and if anything this makes them more dangerous as increasingly it is Goa'uld such as Ba'al who have proven flexible and adaptable to change who have risen to the fore, if other Goa'uld learn from these examples then they might well become a serious threat to the Galaxy once more, they have long been underestimated as a threat and perhaps we have grown complacent about them. Recent interactions ---- Back to Cultural Database Known Goa'uld Confirmed to be Alive Status Unknown Confirmed to be deceased ---- Return to Cultural Database Category:Cultures Category:Goa'uld